On the day that Congress President Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Wayanad in Kerala, a fierce faceoff broke out between him and his opponent in his traditional seat of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. Union Minister Smriti Irani, who also challenged Gandhi in Amethi in 2014, mocked the Congress chief’s decision to contest from Wayanad. Irani said that Gandhi is turning into a political pariah. The Congress President maintained that the motivation behind his decision is the need to send a message to south India which, he alleged, is facing an attack from the Modi government.